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Shanghai: An Expat’s Guide

In China’s most cosmopolitan of cities, foreign residents have long had a defining role in the culture.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 by EveryTrail members

Difficulty: Easy

Duration: Multiple days

Overview :
Shanghai is a city layered in symbols, shifting signs, mixed metaphors. The thing is, it can all be a little overwhelming. The sheer... more » physical clutter of the place, its overlapping histories and real-time reinventions, conspire to make it unusually hard to get casually acquainted with. It helps to get to know seasoned observers who can separate the strata of urban archaeology. Here, an expats recommendations for taking in one of China’s most exciting cities. less «

The crabmeat dumplings are available at a decadent (for Shanghai) splurge of $14 for a dozen and are thin-skinned with a deeply, sweetly crabby rich broth and meat. The place is one small room with about 30 seats, bright cafeteria lighting, linoleum floors, and a clear view into the kitchen.

JIA consists of fifty-two rooms, plus two 1,000-plus-square-foot penthouse suites, both specially designed for high-profile guests (with bodyguards in tow). Space has not been sacrificed to style—even standard rooms clock in at almost 500 square feet. Jia means "home" in Mandarin, and given how frenetic Shanghai is, we loved the property... More’s host of cozy amenities: well-stocked marble kitchenettes, in-room board games, and help-yourself (complimentary) tea and bottled water. There’s even free Wi-Fi, still a luxury among upscale properties. And with high-end stores occupying the first two floors and the city’s boutique district just five minutes away, JIA is a shopper’s paradise.

On Sunday mornings, young expat families brunch on the terrace of M on the Bund, Shanghai’s first fine-dining Western-style restaurant, framed against the pink TV tower and other kitschy buildings of Pudong across the Huangpu River.

When it opened, 1,358 foot-tall the Park Hyatt Shanghai stole the title of world’s tallest hotel (from its sister property across the street, the Grand Hyatt Shanghai). The Park Hyatt occupies the 79th through 93rd floors of the Shanghai World Financial Center, also known as the Vertical Complex City. From a courtyard on the first floor of the... More building, high-speed elevators will whisk you to the 87th-floor lobby in 51 vertiginous, ear-popping seconds. All guest rooms have views of the bright Shanghai cityscape: look for Jin Mao Tower (the second-tallest skyscraper in mainland China), the Huangpu River, and the Bund historic district, which provided a Western-style home base for European expats in the early 1900s.

Address:
100 Century Ave.
Shanghai
China

Phone:
(888) 591-1234Less

17. The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai

Fresh from a $40 million renovation, with Asian elements (such as cabinets inspired by Chinese medicine chests) and a great address. Room to Book: Shanghai rooms have traditional Shanghai design elements and better views than other rooms. Doubles from $350.

Address:
1376 Nanjing Xi Rd.
Shanghai
China

Phone:
(800) 241-3333

18. Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong

It’s almost impossible to actually walk anywhere in the frenetic Pudong neighborhood, so lucky for you that Ritz-Carlton’s second Shanghai property offers plenty of reasons to stay put. Topping off Cesar Pelli’s 58-story IFC Shanghai building, the 285-room hotel places you in a cloud-level fantasy. Guest rooms, with their Art Deco touches, have... More skyline views from floor-to-ceiling windows, Frette linens, and freestanding bathtubs built for lounging.

On the third floor of the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center there’s a room-size scale model of the city in 2020. The joke about the place is that all the locals are here to see if their house will still be around a decade on, or if they should gear up for relocation to the high-rise burbs.

Table No. 1 is a pared-back, industrial-chic restaurant, stripped to its unadorned material essence. Situated in the base of the new 19-room Waterhouse at South Bund hotel, which was also designed by architects Neri and Hu, the restaurant is a natural wood, gray-brick, Cor-Ten steel, and exposed-cement space flooded with light. There are cinematic... More views of Shanghai’s Shiliupu Dock from the outdoor courtyard, oversize wooden communal tables in the main dining hall, and more conventional seating arrangements off to the side and in the private dining rooms.

Address:
1-3 Maojiayuan Rd, Zhongshan Road S.
Shanghai
China

Phone:
86-21-6080-2918Less

25. The Peninsula, Shanghai

A master of luxe hospitality, Peninsula Hotels chairman Michael Kadoorie spent his childhood in Shanghai. So the March 2010 premiere of his ninth property, the Peninsula Shanghai, was a homecoming of sorts. On a stretch of the historic Bund, the 10-story granite-clad building is a Modernist reflection of its Art Deco-era neighbors, the Shanghai... More Club and Sassoon House. Kadoorie is also a vintage-car enthusiast, and there’s a 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II for guests who want to head to Pudong International Airport in style ($370, with chauffeur). Architect David Beer and interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon delivered gleaming brass- and-mahogany elevators and 235 guest rooms that combine embossed glass lamps and black-lacquer screens with 21st-century amenities. All come with VoIP phones, portable master control panels, and spa tubs with music and light settings. But your most valuable asset here is savvy chief concierge Simon Huang, who may very well be the best in town.

Shanghai hotels tend toward the vertical and voluptuous, but one look at this austere lobby—exposed brick walls; steel beams; stone floors—and it’s clear the Waterhouse has broken the mold. The 19-room hotel is housed in a low-slung 1930’s warehouse on the southern part of the city’s iconic Bund promenade. Guest rooms blend rough concrete ceilings... More with blond-wood floors, while Huangpu River-facing windows flood them with natural light.

The historic Union Building became “Three on the Bund” in 2004, and the fifth floor houses the 120-seat Whampoa Club. Located inside one of the Financial Street district’s last siheyuan (courtyards), the restaurant has an Art Deco interior with gold and red tones and a lotus pond. The menu is Cantonese and Shanghainese cuisine with a contemporary ... Moreinterpretation. Executive chef Hsu Mou Ki prepares appetizers like Shanghainese sweet and sour pork ribs, and mains like braised prawns with onion in a sweet chili sauce. To cleanse the palate, 50 Chinese tea varieties are served in tea ceremonies.

Address:
3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Rd., No. 32 The Bund
Shanghai
China

Phone:
86-21-6329-3737Less

28. Xintiandi Shopping Complex

Xintiandi was the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party; now this restored two-block district is defined by upscale shops and restaurants.

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